354 Dactylopiince. 



CHAPTER IX. 

 Sub-family DACTYLOPIIN^. 



This rather unwieldy group is at present made to include a 

 large number of genera for which it is difficult to assign any 

 single common character. The elongate terminal joint of the 

 antenna — in the adult female — separates most of them from the 

 EriococcincE ; but the ' Cochineal ' insects are an exception to this 

 rule. The general character of a setiferous anal ring (which is by 

 no means confined to the Dactylopiind) is absent in the genera 

 Dactylopius, Apiococais and Halimococcus. They agree chiefly in 

 the negative character of the absence of any specialised anal lobes 

 such as are found in the typical Eriococcine genera ; but there is 

 an exception {Geococcus) even to this character. 



The sub-family includes insects with and without limbs and 

 antennae, together with others of an intermediate condition. The 

 nature of the secretionary covering varies from a rigid horny test 

 (in Apiococcus, Halimococcus, and Porococcus), or a tough felted test 

 (as in Pseudoripersia and Erioides), through various degrees of 

 loose coverings of tomentose or mealy secretion to a condition of 

 practical nakedness. The mealy covering is the most general and 

 has acquired for the family the popular term of ' Mealy Bugs.' 



Of the twenty-eight genera specified in the following synopsis, 

 eleven only have been recorded from the Island of Ceylon. Those 

 not yet found in Ceylon are indicated by brackets ( ). It is 

 probable that several of them, especially the root-infesting species, 

 may occur in the Island and only await discovery. 



Synopsis of Genera. 



A. Anal ring without setse. 



a. Limbs and antennae present : insects thickly covered with 



mealy secretion Dactylopius 



b. Limbs and antennae wanting : insects enclosed in a horny 



test. 



d^. Derm with conical spines (ApiocoCCUS). 



b^. Derm without spines HALIMOCOCCUS. 



